Despite a formal truce and the finalization of the war-ending MoU, unrelenting US threats and Israeli military occupation of Lebanon undermine the memorandum, reducing it to a coercive pause – a strategic interlude before renewed conflagration.

Iran’s war-ending MoU with the US hinges on verified Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and end to hostilities, without which the deal won’t make headway, while Tehran embeds deterrence – from the Strait of Hormuz to military response – as enforceable leverage.

For Iran, the understanding to end the imposed military war marks the beginning of a political war, which is built on zero trust, unified fronts, and popular mobilization, turning the post-war phase into strategic leverage for the country.

By emerging stronger from the war and inflicting military and strategic defeat on the enemy, Iran forced the US to abandon its “regime change” fantasy, acknowledge Tehran’s nuclear enrichment rights, and lift illegal sanctions, transforming resistance into strategic leverage.

Over 40 days of the war against Iran, the American military consumed more than 1,100 JASSM-ERs, 1,000 Tomahawks, and 1,200 Patriots, depleting Pacific-deterrent stockpiles in a failed campaign that failed to inflict harm on Iran's core capabilities.

One year after the 12-day imposed war, Iran has emerged as a regional superpower by defeating the US-Israeli war machine twice, while America – humiliated, economically drained, and stripped of credibility – now desperately seeks a deal to escape war and avoid complete collapse.

Fresh strikes aim to force Iran into an agreement that is favorable to the US through limited military pressure, but Tehran’s asymmetric responses and growing deterrence are trapping Washington in a costly, unwinnable strategic deadlock.